Trailblazer Scholarships Honor Marysa Navarro-Aranguren and John Rosenwald

The Trailblazer Scholarship program was established in 2022 through a $10 million anonymous gift and is one of the largest commitments to undergraduate financial aid at Dartmouth. The program is announcing two scholarships annually over five years, each named for a pioneering member of the Dartmouth community. 

When fully funded, the 10 scholarships will support 10 undergraduates each year. Students qualifying for financial aid from all backgrounds are eligible to receive funds from the program.
 

Marysa Navarro-Aranguren: a powerful advocate

“This scholarship is such a perfect honor for Marysa, who was a trailblazer in so many ways,” says Professor of History Leslie Butler. “She was a passionate champion for Latin American studies, a pioneering scholar of women and gender, and a powerful advocate for coeducation and gender equality at Dartmouth.”
 

“She played an important role in Dartmouth going co-ed,” says Professor of History Emeritus Gene Garthwaite, who arrived at Dartmouth the same year as Navarro-Aranguren. He recalls her fervent opposition to the proposal of establishing a coordinate women’s college across the Connecticut River in Norwich, Vermont. “She insisted that women had to be in Hanover.”  

Board of Trustees Chair Emerita Susan Dentzer ’77 GR’22, a Trailblazer Scholarship honoree in 2023, says Navarro-Aranguren inspired generations of Dartmouth women. 

“Marysa Navarro was an iconic presence on campus when many of us women first arrived in the early years of coeducation,” Dentzer says. “We knew that hers had been a powerful and persuasive voice in Dartmouth’s decision to go coeducational, and her leadership on so many issues that affected female faculty, students, and alumnae never faltered in all the years afterward.” 

Associate Professor of History Steven Ericson adds, “Marysa had a strong personality and a commanding presence. She was also a highly respected mentor, especially to younger female colleagues, and a powerful advocate for women in the faculty.” 

Navarro-Aranguren was internationally respected in her field—she was elected president of the Latin American Studies Association—and her biography of Eva Perón is still considered the standard, Garthwaite says. 

“My mother firmly believed that the best way of breaking barriers was by creating paths for others to follow and continue,” says Nina Gerassi-Navarro, Navarro-Aranguren’s daughter and the King Felipe VI of Spain Professor in Spanish Culture and Civilization at Tufts. “She would be greatly honored to have her name assigned to this scholarship. It is the perfect legacy for her from the institution she loved and fought for so deeply.”
 

John Rosenwald: a living national treasure

The headline of a 2000 New York Times article captured the philanthropic magic Rosenwald can spin: “When ‘Rosie’ Asks, New York’s Elite Can’t Say No.” The article summarized how his buoyant personality and assiduous research combined to make him “one of New York’s premier philanthropists, leading capital campaigns for some of the city’s most important nonprofit organizations.” 
 

“It’s the kind of thing that only John Rosenwald could have pulled off,” Carson says. “Everyone views John as somebody who’s genuinely interested in helping.” 

Trustee Emerita Peggy Epstein Tanner ’79 says Rosenwald has inspired and mentored generations of Dartmouth volunteers, who have gone on to lead campaigns, establish a national standard for women’s philanthropy, and launch innovative alumni relations programs. She says he also helped make Dartmouth a more welcoming community. Epstein Tanner recalls serving on The Will to Excel campaign committee, which Rosenwald led until he was asked to chair the Board of Trustees. For the first years, she was the sole woman on the committee and only in her early 30s. 

“Rosie treated everyone as equals and immediately made me feel comfortable,” she says. “That warm welcome reflected his unwavering support for bringing more diversity to Dartmouth—both the student body and the volunteers who give their time so generously.” 

Rosenwald was motivated to provide first-class facilities to support Dartmouth’s academic ambitions and assumed the responsibility to raise funds for two buildings in the 1990s: Moore Hall, to accommodate the rapidly growing Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, and Berry Library. For the latter, Rosenwald capped months of discussions with John Berry ’44 with a quiet, one-to-one evening conversation on the Green. Rosenwald described to Berry the satisfaction he and his family would enjoy knowing thousands of Dartmouth students would expand their intellectual life within the library’s walls. Sufficiently inspired, Berry extended his hand and agreed to make the lead gift. 

“John has an extraordinary gift for listening—really listening—to what people care about, what gives them pause, and what inspires them,” says Carrie Pelzel ’54a, former senior vice president for advancement. “One of Rosie’s rules of philanthropy is, ‘Don’t give till it hurts; give till it feels good.’ He taught me, and countless others fortunate enough to work alongside him, that philanthropy becomes transformative when it is deeply personal and rewarding—for donors and their families alike.” 

Dentzer served on the Board of Trustees with Rosenwald and says his “incredible bonhomie, good humor, and approachability” have made him an unmatched volunteer leader. 

“I’ve spent a lot of time in Japan, and I’m drawn to the Japanese concept of a living national treasure,” she says. “The Japanese term is ningen kukuhō. That’s shorthand for ‘holders of important intangible cultural properties.’ That’s usually given to people who are master craftspeople in some form of the arts. I’ve borrowed the concept to characterize certain extraordinary people whom I’ve had the privilege to know. To me, John epitomizes the concept of a living national treasure.”